The number of farmed ballan wrasse used in aquaculture to support integrated sea lice management could overtake wild-caught wrasse as soon as 2022 as a result of increased and more effective breeding and deployment programmes, according to aquaculture experts.

A group of researchers is aiming to determine the best possible conditions to prepare hatchery-produced ballan wrasse for life as cleaner fish in salmon farms.

A group of researchers in Scotland is to carry out a series of tests to determine whether the boldness of individual Ballan wrasse makes them more adept at picking sea lice parasites from salmon.

Fish health and diagnostics company PatoGen, in collaboration with a wrasse farmer, has discovered a novel virus in ballan wrasse hatchlings which is associated with high mortality shortly after hatching. The virus has been named ballan wrasse birnavirus (BWDV).